大象传媒

As well as clearing the 拢32million worth of debt at Portman Road, a fair percentage of the 拢12million Evans is paying on top of that will no doubt be handed to manager Jim Magilton for squad strengthening.

Don't expect a wild spending spree come January though.

I'm sure the club has learned from the excessive and ultimately destructive recruitment drive of 2001 which played a huge part in relegation from the Premier League.

Magilton's showed us already that he's no mug when it comes to wheeling and dealing.

Rather than looking to replace half his team, I'm convinced he'll stick to addressing the areas which he currently feels need attention and will simply look at better players than those he'd perhaps had on his list before this week's announcement.

Billy Sharp

Last season he was never in with a serious shout of attracting the likes of Paul McShane, Billy Sharp, James Beattie or Anthony Stokes.

This season he almost certainly will be.

That said, he'll still do as much research into a player's character as he would a free signing.

Knowing Jim Magilton as I do I'm absolutely certain he'd never bring a player to Ipswich Town, no matter how gifted he is, if he's someone who'd damage the team spirit that's built up in the current group of players.

Some people might be concerned that selling clubs might inflate a player's price just because they know Town have cash to spend but for me that's always been the way of the world and something Town will just have to accept.

At the end of a day if a player's keen on a move it tends to go through eventually after a bit of negotiation.

Raised expectations

What Jim Magilton will also have to accept is a rise in the expectancy level.

At the start of this season he openly targeted a top 10 finish in his second year as a manager. That's unlikely to be enough now with fans and, more than likely, Marcus Evans aiming for the top six at least.

What a challenge though...